Monday, May 25, 2009

Back in January I set a goal to create six Christmas cards each month so that by the December I would have plenty of Christmas cards all done and hopefully much less stress the first week of December. I stumbled a bit in April and did not make all six of my cards. But today I hopped back in the game and made my six May Christmas cards (with 6 days to go)!!! If I can make four more card over the next few days, I will be back on schedule.

Sadly right in the middle of my card project my Wizard started acting up. I am hopeful that Mr. Doug can get it working for me again later tonight as I LOVE my nesties!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

I spent part of the day creating embellishments for a diaper cake and a matching baby shower card. The women I work with are hosting a baby shower for a co-worker's daughter. A few of us have gone in together to create a multi-layer diaper cake complete with lots of accessories.

I thought the cake could use a few New Arrival cuts to finish it off. I made "It's a Boy" for the top of the cake, along with four other shapes for added embellies. I mounted the cuts on white florist wire so that we just have to insert then into the diapers.

I also made a matching card... and was able to use my new LONG RECTANGLES nesties. The card was also made using the New Arrival cartridge. So ... now that I am ahead for the week, I can relax for the rest of the weekend!!!

Friday, May 22, 2009

The random counter says the winner of Regina's Cutting Cafe's cute, cute Flip Flop file is number 23, Michelle (Dizzie Noodle). Michelle I will pass your information along to Regina who will contact you.

Thank you to everyone who joined the blog hop and left messages. This was so fun; I look forward to our next blog hop!

I have a new nephew.... Well technically he is a great-nephew, and technically he is my husband's great nephew. But his dad, Chris, was the first baby born after I joined the Edwards family so he is MY nephew too.

Chris and his wife Trish welcomed baby Joel to their family last week. I have to say that Joel has the coolest nursery I have ever heard of... He has baby ninjas decorating his nursery. How great is that?

Anyway, last night I went to Target to shop Chris and Trish's baby registry. I found some fun and practical items for Joel which I will be shipping today. Included with his bounty of gifts (I did get a BIT carried away), will be this card. Chris and Trish truly consider Joel to be a blessing, so they should like the card. Also, they used blue and green together throughout the nursery.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Happy Bitten by the Bug Monday! This week the design team challenge at Bitten by the Bug is sponsored by the Cutting Cafe, who is also sponsoring a blog hop giveaway!!! We were each challenged to use a different printable stamp provided by the Cutting Cafe to complete our project, along with a frame from the Storybook cartridge. As you can see, I used the flip flop printable stamp. And what fun I had with this awesome printable flip flop!!

I printed the flip onto white card stock and this pretty aqua print paper. I then sewed the layers together to create the stitched shoe feel and added the frame as the tag of the shoe. I also sewed on the flip flop strap, then blinged out my little shoe with ribbon, flowers and gems.

So did I mention the Bitten by the Bug team is hosting a BLOG HOP and BLOG CANDY at each designer's blog?? I thought I might have said something about that! The Blog Candy is being provided by the Cutting Cafe, so be sure to leave comment below to be registered to receive this awesome flip flop printable stamp.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

I have spent the day hermitted in my scrap room. I was not making cards, or working on my BBTB challenge, or designing for Custom Crops. No... I was doing some old fashioned scrapping!

My younger son will graduate from high school on June 5th and we are hosting an open house for him on June 6th. I would really like to have his scrap books as up to date as possible for the open house, but it is going to take lots of hours of scrapping to achieve that goal.

As I dug through my photo file I found photos of Ian from Spirit Week last October that had not been scrapped, a few photos from Christmas, and the rest were April and May events. I am hopeful that I have found all of my missing Ian photos. The following are a few highlights:

Thursday, May 14, 2009

In a previous post I mentioned that I created two projects for this week's Bitten By the Bug challenge. I was not sure which was better, or if either was worth sending. I trusted my husband to choose one. He surprised me by going for the bright, fun card. Not that this card is dark... But anyway, Donna asked to see my "other" BBTB (almost) entry. :)

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

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Tonight I learned to use my Cricut Expression again - on manual! Oh My GOODNESS... I couldn't believe that I did not have a clue how to work without Design Studio. Thankfully PC still includes those nifty little booklets with the cartridges, and THANKFULLY those nifty little booklets have practice projects in the front.

Lucky, lucky me - the project in the front of the Lyrical Letters booklet is a bridal shower card. Guess who is going to a bridal shower on Sunday????? Yep - me! This card was perfect. First, it allowed me to use Lyrical Letters and second, it taught me to use my expression again, and finally, I now have a card for Sunday! (Though I am suddenly wondering if I was supposed to RSVP.... Note to self: call Peggy).

My only changes to the demo project card was to add the organza ribbon and bow and to add my doodling dots. Otherwise the card came from the book! Oh... and I did change the colors slightly (admit it, you KNEW that I did).

Like everyone else with one of the new cartridge I am ready for the DS update to be released. I had forgotten how you had to guess at where the cut would be on the mat BDS (before design studio). I was playing with Jubilee last night - making a village and I think I wasted a couple of sheets of paper... but that is another story for another night....

I can FINALLY share in details: TODAY is the official kick-off of the Custom Crops design team. There are 8-9 of us who were hired to design cut files, write articles (or combine the two in my case), or create instructional videos for Custom Crops. There has been a "soft" opening going on for the last week or so, but the official kick off is today.
Please go by Custom Crops today, scroll down the menu until you "Articles" and click any of the links for great articles, videos, and FREE CUT FILES. I currently have eight free cut files on the site. Donna, Margie, and others also have free cut files. Please, please DO leave feedback... I would LOVE to know what you think.
My cut files have instructions with each, as well as a list of cartridges needed to complete the project. I have given sneak peeks below of two of the files. The photos in this post also are from my Custom Crops projects. And best of all.... I have another four almost finished so they should be up next week. This will be an on-going venture so do check back!!!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Our new family member, our little sweet Pomeranian boy, has been with us for a little over week now and all I can say is - we completely love him! We have renamed him Duncan, which he is beginning to respond to, probably because we say it with such affection. Well that and three of us call him Duncan constantly... Duncan is a character in a movie our family likes and watches over and over. Duncan is kind-hearted loyal friend. We thought the the name fit our little guy well.

Duncan has a funny sense of humor and loves to play - almost as much as he loves to snuggle. And what a snuggler he is!!! Sadly, he has exhibited some behaviors that suggest his first owner may have been unkind to him. But we are convinced with love, patience, kindness, spoiling, and devotion he will overcome any unpleasant memories. We are just thankful that Ms. Mary rescued him and allowed us to adopt.

We feel very blessed to have Duncan as part of our family... And we hope he feels the same about us.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Here it is, bedtime on a Bitten by the Bug Monday and I am *just* getting my challenge project posted. Thank goodness Regina isn't as pokey as me! I bet you have already been by BBTB and checked out the amazing projects using the smiley face cut... I grabbed a few minutes and took a peek this morning. Just beautiful work!

My project is somewhat whimsical... Kind-of fun... Full of color... And just made me smile. I actually made two projects for this cut, each very different in size, color, and content... Then I let my husband pick. I actually thought he would like the blue/green project better but no, he too liked the fun colors of this card.

I used the Wild Card cartridge to cut the base card in SEI double sided card stock. I loved the bright inside and the fun print on the the cover. I then used solid card stocks and cut the two shadow pieces - one in white and one in cranberry. I also cut and punched the eyelet border piece. Next I but the smiley face and the double scalloped frame (or bonnet). I also cut the cute little bird. Assembly was a breeze with my Max glider. I finished the card off with markers and ribbons, and the SEI tag. Oh... and the inside reads: Oh happy day!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Are you still looking for a special Mother's Day card cut file? I created this beautiful card for Custom Crops as part of their new design team. You can find the article telling you how to create this special card, along with the cut file, by follow this link to Custom Crops. Be sure to check out the other designers' projects (as well as my other projects) while you are there. And I would love any feedback you might want to leave at the CC site.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Several weeks ago Custom Crops held a call for design team members. They were looking for crafters who were proficient in Cricut Design Studio software, as well as those who could write articles and teach techniques. I was fortunate enough to be selected to be part of the team. My first article, Sweet Dreams Sweet Baby, was posted today. The layout uses three cartridges and when completed will make a double page spread for a baby book. The article, photos, etc. may be accessed by clicking here to follow the link to Custom Crops. Be sure to watch the site as more articles will be popping up daily!!!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Do you ever have ideas for projects and you just never get around to starting or finishing? I have had one of those for two years! We purchased a new house two years ago (two years ago next week actually) and while I did scrap the move process, I had never scrapped the new house pages. Until tonight... FINALLY!
It's actually a little funny, but I have put off scrapping the house exterior pages because I kept forgetting to get updated photos. The original photo only had "builder landscaping". I wanted photos that included the 16 foot palm we had installed, along with the flamingo willow tree and some of my knock out roses. I finally managed to get those photos taken last week. Coincidentally, I was also able to use my new Home Decor cartridge to cut some of the page elements (as well as Home Accents for HOME). And before you ask, I purchased the address plate two years ago... before design studio. The customized address plate came from Scrap Your Trip. I also creating pages showing the moving process and the paper and rub-ons for those pages also came from Scrap Your Trip.
My other project this evening was a monogrammed card. I wanted to try this cute circle cut card so I used it to create my monogrammed card. I foresee more of these in my future!!